


Eames the Friendly Ghost

by TheHedgehogSong



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-21
Updated: 2014-11-21
Packaged: 2018-02-26 11:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2651018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHedgehogSong/pseuds/TheHedgehogSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur’s had to move into a studio apartment across campus, finish and hand in his dissertation and start to study for finals within the space of a month, so he thinks he can be forgiven for not noticing he was being haunted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Eames the Friendly Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> So this started out as a "Ghost haunting a student who's too tired to give a fuck about being haunted AU" and somewhat spiraled into whatever this is.

Arthur’s had to move into a studio apartment across campus, finish and hand in his dissertation and start to study for finals within the space of a month, so he thinks he can be forgiven for not noticing he was being haunted.  

It all started when some asshole of a stoner tried making food and instead ended up burning down half of Arthur’s halls, meaning that Arthur and the rest of the students have had to move to temporary accommodation 20 minutes across campus. This of course happened when Arthur was in the middle of writing his dissertation. He manages to move in within a day and sort his stuff out the next day. After that he focuses on his dissertation.  

When his stuff starts moving around the room he puts it down to tiredness meaning that he can’t remember doing it himself. When he hears noises or sees something out the corner of his eye he puts it down to a combination of stress and caffeine and just puts his headphones in.  When after a shower there’s a piece of paper on his desk with scratchy handwriting saying ‘notice me’, Arthur just assumes it’s some weird stalker and he forgot to lock his door.  

It comes to a head the day he’s handed in his dissertation. He went out for a drink with Ariadne to celebrate, when comes back in the lamp on his desk is switched on. Arthur sighs, he must have left it on before he went out (ignoring the fact that it was daylight when he left the apartment and wouldn’t have had the lamp on in the first place.) He goes to knock it off and sees the poker chip that he had picked up off the sidewalk and then left in his desk drawer the day he moved in under the lamps rays. He picks the chip up and turns it over in his hands.   

 “FINALLY!” a voice shouts behind him. Arthurs startles. He turns around to see a well build, blonde man in a suit standing in the middle of his tiny apartment. “You’ve been here for two weeks and you haven’t even noticed me! I was starting to worry about you darling.”  

“Who the fuck are you?!” Arthur basically screams. “GET OUT!”  

“I can’t.” The man says bluntly. 

 “What do you mean you can’t? Get the fuck out of my room. I don’t care if this is some weird ass prank. Get. The. Fuck. Out.”  

“I can’t. I’m stuck in this room.” 

“Alright, get the fuck out.” Arthur says approaching the man. “Seriously get out.”  

“I keep telling you I can’t.”  

“I’ll call the police.” 

“Go ahead. They won’t be able to see me - I'm a ghost.” 

“Fine.”  Arthur huffs ignoring the ghost comment, he gets his phone out of his pocket and unlocks it. 

“Look don’t do that, they’ll come and they’ll call you a crazy person.” Arthur grins in triumph. “Here.” Then the guy is reaching out towards him, Arthur flinches away but the man is quicker and the man’s hand goes right through Arthur’s chest. A violent shiver runs through Arthur’s body.  

The man pulls his hand back and smirks at Arthur. Arthur stares speechlessly at the man for a while unsure of how to deal with the situation he's been confronted with. “You’re a ghost.” Arthur sits down onto the bed heavily. “My temporary apartment is haunted.” Arthur says to himself, dropping his head into his hands. 

“You know darling, your reaction to everything I’ve done is quite opposite to what I was expecting - but I suppose Hollywood has tainted all our minds.” 

Arthur sighs and looks up at the ghost who’s still standing in the middle of the room. “Just what I need. A fucking ghost. I just, I can’t deal with this right now.”  

“You can’t deal with me?” The ghost asks sounding genuinely offended.  

“No!” Arthur bursts standing up from the bed, “No, I can’t deal with you. I’ve just finished my dissertation and I need to start studying for my finals and I could do without having to deal with Casper the annoying ass ghost messing with my shit!”    

The ghost stands looking shell shocked.  

“Can you just like, not bother me. We’ve managed to get this far without you bothering me, can we just carry on that way.” Arthur sighs and the ghost, well the ghosts looks genuinely upset which throws Arthur slightly but disappears from sight within a blink of an eye.   

Arthur convinces himself that he was hallucinating and manages to get a good night sleep, when he wakes up there’s no sign of the ghost.  He’s been studying for a couple hours, headphones in, when he notices a cup of coffee on the desk next to his laptop. He pulls his headphones out and looks around the room but there’s no sign of anything unusual. 

He pick it up and takes a sip it's made just how he likes it. “Thanks.” He says quietly to the room. He looks over to where the poker chip is laying on his desk from last night and picks up it up - flipping it around in his fingers to get a better look at it. 

“I’ll stay out of your way.” A small voice comes from behind him, Arthur turns around to see the ghost perched on the side of his bed. He hadn’t noticed last night, a combination of alcohol and anger blocking it out but the man has an English accent and is actually ridiculously attractive. 

“Sorry for shouting at you last night." Arthur says sheepishly - the ghost seems to perk up at that, not looking as forlorn as he had a couple of seconds prior. "I’m just a little bit stressed. And honestly I’m still not 100% you’re not just a stress induced hallucination.”   

“I’m whatever you want to be darling.” The ghost replies seemingly having perked up entirely and throws Arthur a cocky smile.  

Arthur rolls his eyes but he can’t help the quirk of his lips. “What should I could you then?” 

“Again dear, whatever you want.” This time he throws in a wink. Arthur gives him an unimpressed look. “Eames.” He says, still looking delighted.  

“I’m Arthur.” 

“I know.” Arthur raises his eyebrows in shock. “Don’t look so scandalised you’ve been living here for a few weeks.”  

“Oh God! You’ve been stalking me!” Arthur bursts. 

“Not stalking, there’s just nothing else for me to do but people watch, clearly the trying to get your attention wasn't working out as well as first planned.” 

“You watch me?!” Arthur choked. “Oh God! Have you watched me get changed?” Eames just winks at him before disappearing. “No! Don’t you dare, you dirty pervert!” Eames doesn’t reappear for the rest of the day. After a small period of Arthur thudding his head against the desk he takes a deep breath and carries on with his work. He's too exhausted that night when he goes to bed to even think about whether or not he has a voyeur ghost watching him when he gets changed.   

The next morning he gets up and there's a coffee ready for him with a bowl of cereal poured and the milk left next to it. He looks around but there's no sign of Eames. He goes for shower after and he pauses after stripping  off his t-shirt - has Eames been watching him in here? Is he watching him now? He looks around but he hadn’t seen the ghost much anyway he doesn't know why he would see him now.  

He suddenly can't stop the thought that Eames has been watching him in the shower go through his head. Arthur hasn't given himself the time to jerk off anywhere other than a quick cursory one in the shower - the thought of Eames seeing him do that suddenly sends a bolt of heat through him making his pants tighten.  

Arthur gets undressed, into the shower and wraps a hand around himself in record time. He lets out a loud groan and imagines Eames is standing there in the shower watching him. 

Arthur's somewhat embarrassed by himself when he get out of the shower - but there's no sign of Eames. He wanders over to the desk where the poker chip sits - remembering that Eames turns up when he touched it last time. He picks it up and looks around the apartment but there's nothing, maybe he is going insane. After all he did just get off to the thought of a ghost watching him jerk it.  He slips the chip in his pocket and gets to work. 

It's evening when Eames shows up. "Hello darling." He whispers in Arthur's ear making Arthur jump out of his skin and almost topple over in his chair.  

"FUCK! Eames! Don't do that." Arthur cowls him as he turns to face him. Eames is just wearing a smug expression and sits back down on the bed.  

"Miss me?" Eames practically purrs. 

Arthur just rolls his eyes. "Thanks for breakfast, by the way." 

"It was nothing." Eames mumbles looking embarrassed, which Arthur can't fathom out. He then clears his throat and his expression turns lecherous once again. "Keeping a little part of me close by aye Arthur? Couldn't bear the separation?" 

Arthur raises his eyebrow. "Separation? Meaning you weren't here?" Arthur asks. 

"Well darling my life doesn't revolve around you." Eames says, and Arthur grimaces, Eames must notice because he gives Arthur a questioning look. 

"Just not the best choice of words. Anyway I thought you haunted this apartment."  

"One my choice of words was adequate and two I don't haunt this apartment, or anything really for that matter. I'm just spectrally attached to that poker chip." 

 "What?" Arthur asks. 

Eames sighs and them lies back on the bed - which Arthur assumes is his melodramatic re-enactment of a regency era damsel. "Look I was going to save all this spiel until I'd buttered you up a bit more, I mean you didn't even notice me for ages and when you did you weren't exactly accommodating but I guess now is as good a time as any." He sits up on the bed again and makes eye contact with Arthur. "So I'm not actually a ghost, or at least I don't think I would get classified as one anyway because I'm not actually dead." 

"What?" Arthur asks, again when Eames pauses his rambling. 

"What I'm trying to say is I'm in a coma." 

"You're in a coma?" Arthur asks flatly. 

"Yes I was, I was in an accident outside this apartment block - that poker chip must have fallen out of my pocket when it happened. Anyway next thing I know I'm looking down at my unconscious body in a hospital room. Spent a couple of days in that hospital room, trying to get doctors or nurses attention but even when noticed they couldn't see me - I couldn’t tell them anything and they just freaked out.  

Then suddenly I was outside this apartment block - you had picked up the poker chip. I tried getting your attention - after all you had the poker chip, more likely you could at least hear me but then I started to think I would never get your attention either. Finally, finally I managed to talk to you." Eames pauses again, this time smiling proudly at Arthur - like getting his attention was an achievement.  

"Right." Arthur says. "But why were you waiting till you'd buttered me up more before you told me that."  

"Well here's the thing darling. I need you to take that poker chip to some friends of mine so they can help me out."  Eames says with what Arthur can only assume is his most charming smile. 

Arthur sighs and rubs his nose slightly. "Where to they live?" 

"Just across town."  

"Look Eames, aside from the fact I'm not entirely sure whether you're real or I'm going insane from lack of sleep and too much caffeine, I have a test in two days and then pretty much one everyday after that for the next two weeks. These are my finals. I can't flunk out on them just because a coma patient may or may not be connected to me physically through a poker chip." 

"I completely understand I do." Eames sighs. "Look just, I'll give you the address and if you get a free moment take the chip to them. If not, fine. Just promise me you'll take it to them after your exams." 

Arthur pulls the poker chip out of his pocket and turns it over a few times. At least if he takes it to the address and they don't know who Eames is then he'll know he's insane. "Okay I promise. Arthur pledges, "Afterthe exams though." Arthur adds when Eames's face looks like it's about to spilt in two. 

"Oh darling!" Eames gushes. "You just want to keep me around longer."  

The next two weeks that followed were very weird for Arthur. Although he spent the majority of it studying or taking his exams he would fine random cups of coffee for him that Eames had clearly made for him. As well when he would take a break Eames would appear as if he knew (which probably after the first couple of days he did because Arthur liked to keep to his schedule) and would keep Arthur entertained.  

They would talk about Arthur's work and what he planned to do after - travel around Europe for 6 months and then start at the job he had been offered (if he got the right grades) at an architecture firm. Eames had enthusiastically talked about all the places he had visited in his life - which seemed to be everywhere. Eames had also talked briefly about his friends, Cobb and Mal, who he wanted Arthur to bring the poker chip to.  

What was weird, if you ignored the fact that Arthur was talking to the spiritual projection of a coma patient, was that when Arthur asked what Eames did for a living, or even hinted around it, Eames would change the conversation. In fact, aside from the places he'd travelled Eames revealed very little about himself full stop.  

Arthur had also taken to carrying the poker chip around with him in his pocket - which granted only meant he carried it around the apartment and then to and from his exams, but every time, just as he went into the exam, he would feel a cold brush at his elbow and hear a whispered 'good luck' in his ear that never failed to make him feel better.  

When he finishes his final exam he leaves his celebrating friends, with a promise of returning in a couple hours, and heads across town to the address he'd taken off Eames with the poker chip in his pocket.  

"Thank you for doing this darling." Eames says, sitting on the seat next to Arthur on the bus. Arthur pulls his mobile phone out and puts it up to his ear so he doesn't look like a madman. 

"It's fine Eames, at least this way I'll know if I'm certifiable insane or not." 

Eames chuckles. "Oh you're definitely insane, I've seen your study schedule." Arthur rolls his eyes but doesn’t comment. 

" So what am I saying to them when we get there, if they exist. Hey you know your friend that's in a coma, well here's his poker chip he's been haunting me for the past month." 

"Well actually, they don't know I'm in a coma." 

"What?" Arthur hisses. 

"Well they thought I was leaving town and the hospital have me down as a john doe." Arthur turns to look at Eames sharply - and understandable gets a fifthly look off the woman who's sat on the opposite side of the bus. He turns to face the front again. 

"So what I've got to tell them you're in a coma." 

"Arthur calm down, all you need to do is give them the poker chip. After that you can leave and return back to your life." Eames says, sounding weary. 

Arthur takes the phone away from his ear and puts it back in his pocket. It’s weird to think that potential after today he won't have Eames following him around anymore, making him coffee and annoying him. 

After the first time in the shower wondering if Eames was watching him Arthur hadn't been able to think about anything else while jerking off - well apart from maybe Eames joining in instead of just watching. Eames had flirted with him constantly throughout the last couple of weeks, but Arthur wasn't sure if that was just his nature or not. Put on top of that Eames was in a coma he reckoned it was probably best not to try and find out if Eames was interested or not. 

They had been quiet all the way up until they had got to the house where Eames announced "This is it."  It was a huge town house, it had a big front garden scattered with children's toys, and a porch complete with a swing.  

Arthur rang the doorbell and waited patiently. A woman answered the door - she had to be one of the most beautiful people Arthur had seen. "Eames!" She greets cheerily in a French accent. "I didn't expect to see you so soon after your last visit, and who is your friend?" She asks with a smile on her face looking at Arthur. 

Arthur was completely dumbstruck and speechless. "Oh thank god you can see me." Eames says.  

"Why?" The woman asks, face dropping. "Shouldn't I be able to?"  

"I wasn't sure whether your clairvoyance would extend to these kinds of situations." Eames turn to look at Arthur softly. "You can give her the poker chip Arthur and then you can go darling." Arthur stands in place and doesn't move, he feels a slight pressure on his lower back and knows it's Eames trying to touch him there - to comfort him maybe, Arthur doesn't know. 

"What's going on?" Arthur asks, he puts his hand in his pocket and grips onto the poker chip but doesn't pull it out and doesn't hand it over.  

"Perhaps he should come inside and we'll talk." The woman says. 

"No Mal." Eames says. "He's just a kid okay. He's been good to even bring this to you. I don’t want him messed up in this."  

"I'd love to come inside, thanks." Arthur says, not entirely sure what's he's doing. He knows he should turn around and go back to his friends and celebrate the end of finals. But suddenly he wants to be here, he wants to see this through to the end, more importantly he wants to know what's going on. 

"Arthur." Eames says warningly. But Mal smiles beautifully with a glint in her eye and moves out of the way to let Arthur and Eames into the house. Arthur walks past her before he can change his mind.  

Mal leads them into the living. "Can I offer you a drink Arthur?" 

"Mal!" Eames barks at her but she just smiles nicely at him. 

"Of course I can make a cup of tea for you."  

"I can't drink tea, I'm a spectral projection!" Eames huffs. 

"Are you are a psychic?" Mal asks, looking at Arthur. 

"Erm no?" Arthur replies. 

"It's the poker chip." Eames says. 

"Oh that worked? How excellent." Mal replies, sitting down and gesturing for Arthur and Eames to do the same. "So what trouble have you gotten yourself into this time?" 

Eames looks over at Arthur and hesitates. "Look Mal, Arthur's just a normal student who got mixed up in this. He really should just leave." Eames says somewhat desperately. 

"I believe that's his decision. Arthur?" 

Arthur hesitates and looks between Mal and Eames. Mal looks at him with a motherly smile on and Eames look s at him like his begging with his eyes. Arthur pulls the poker chip out of his pocket and turns it around in his hands. "Up until about 5 minutes ago I was pretty sure I was insane, that you were a caffeine and stress induced hallucination. Now there's a very good chance that you're not and that a whole new part of the world is about to be revealed to me. I'm not the kind of person who turns their back on that." He looks over to Mal who beaming at him now. 

"I like him Eames, if you don't want him I'll have him." She says with a chuckle. 

Eames sighs greatly and grits his teeth. "Fine. I was going to leave the city the night I left here, but I was ambushed. It was a demon who had been a witch in her past life. The bitch that tried to take me down in Melbourne before I came here - she had a spell that tore out a person's soul so she could then possess the body - luckily I've got the anti possession tattoo so she couldn't use my body my soul attached itself to the poker chip so my body didn't die. The paramedics came after she left and when I was put onto the ambulance the poker chip fell out of my pocket. Then young Arthur here found it."  

Arthur stopped and looked at Eames, suddenly worried that this was all one massive prank. He had the sudden urge to laugh hysterically. He looked over to Eames but his face was grave. "You're kidding." Arthur says flatly. 

"No." Eames replies. 

"Well no matter. Arthur's got the poker chip. We can take it to the hospital and get you back to normal in no time." Mal says brightly. "Do you know what hospital you're at?" 

"Yeah." Eames replies, still looking at Arthur. 

"Well then let's go." Mal says standing up and ushers them out the house and into a car before Arthur can freak out properly.  

They get to the hospital and Eames directs them to the hospital room he currently resides in. It's a really weird moment Arthur has as he stand looking at the man standing beside him also lying in a bed hooked up to lots of tubes.  

"Poker chip please." Mal asks, holding out her hand. Arthur's almost reluctant to give it up but hands it over, as soon as it leaves his grasp he can no longer see ghost-Eames just the one unconscious in the hospital bed, it makes Arthur's stomach drop and want to grab the chip back. 

Mal lies the poker chip over Eames's chest and mummers something under her breath. Eames eyes flickers open and Arthur let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding.   

"Welcome back." Mal says kindly, eyes flicking between Arthur and Eames. "I'll go get a wheelchair and we'll get out of here."  

She walked out of the room and Arthur walked over to the side of the bed where Eames was struggling to sit up and fling his legs over the side. "You've been in a coma for a month Eames. You're going to have to take it slow." Arthur says, reaching out and helping him. Eames just grunts and tries to stand up, falling forward and making Arthur bear his weight. "For gods sake Eames!" Arthur shouts, pushing him back so he's sitting on the bed. 

Eames looks up at him and Arthur realises his standing between his legs holding tightly onto his arms. "Darling." Eames mummers before he tugs Arthur down and kisses him. Arthur lets out a laugh against his lips. "You're not suppose to laugh when someone kisses you after a month of pining for you, you know." Eames says offended. 

"Your breath is terrible." Arthur replies. 

"Well see if yours is any better after you've been in a coma for a month."  

A cough from the doorway startles them. "I found a wheelchair." Mal announces.They disconnect all of Eames' tubes, leaving the heart monitor on until they've got him in the chair. Once they’ve disconnected that the beat a hasty retreat. 

Once they've managed to get Eames back to Mal's house and set up in the living room Arthur sits down beside him while Mal's in the kitchen making them and her family dinner for later that evening.  

"Pining for a month you say?" Arthur says. 

"Well can you blame me, you are rather tempting darling." 

"I wanted to ask you something." 

"Anything." 

Arthur leans in close. "Did you ever watch me in the shower?" Eames's eyes darken and he licks his lips, before he can answer thought the front door opens and two children pile into the room. 

"Uncle Eames!" The boy shouts and they both launch themselves onto the couch.  

"Who's this?" The girl asks, pulling at Eames beard that had clearly grown while he was in the coma.  

"This is my friend Arthur." Eames says. "Arthur this is James and Phillipa." 

"Hi Arthur." The children chime together. 

"Come on you two, leave Uncle Eames and his friend alone and get washed up for dinner." Came a male voice from the doorway. The man walks forward as the children rush from the room giggling and extends his hand out towards Arthur. "I'm Dom."  

"Arthur." Arthur replies, taking Dom's hand and shaking it. 

"Arthur would you be a dear and help me plate up please?" Mal asks from the kitchen. 

"I'll go help the kids." Dom says walking away as Arthur stands and moves towards the kitchen.  

Eames grabs Arthur's wrist and pulls him closer. "Yes I did." He says lowly and Arthur sucks in a breath. He lets go and smirks lavishly at Arthur. "Now be a dear and run along." Arthur controls he's breathing as much as he can and heads to the kitchen. 

"So Arthur, what do you do at the moment?" Mal asks while they're dishing up. 

"Oh I'm just a student, just finished my finals today actually." Although that seemed like a million years ago now. 

"Got any plans as to what you're going to do next?" Mal asks with a mischievous smile and a glint in her eyes.   
"Oh I'm actually going to travel around Europe for a few months." 

Mal hums her acknowledgement. "Eames is a very well travelled man you know. He adores Europe - would make a very good travel guide." Mal says offhandedly and takes the plates out of the kitchen before Arthur can say anything. Arthur holds back a stupid grin as he takes the rest of the plates out behind Mal.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos always appreciated :)
> 
> Now Translated into Chinese: http://www.movietvslash.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=143725&extra=page%3D1%26filter%3Dtypeid%26typeid%3D22%26typeid%3D22


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